Numerous studies have confirmed that oxidative stress is a phenomenon which progresses over time, causing biological damage leading to cell death, and which is responsible for both the effects connected with lipoprotein peroxidation and death due to degeneration, in addition to death due to apoptosis. Indeed, oxidative stress has been recognised as a mediator of programmed cell death, responsible for the activation of T lymphocytes and the depletion of CD4+ T cells in AIDS (Buttke T. M., Sandstrom P. A. “Oxidative stress as a mediator of apoptosis” Immunology Today, 1994, 15(1): 7-10).
The antioxidant action of phenylpropanoids, and verbascoside in particular, has been amply described and is well known in the literature (Seidel et al. Phenyipropanoids from Ballota nigra L. inhibit in vitro LDL peroxidation. Phytother. Res., 2000, 14(2): 93-98; Chion et al. Acteoside protects endothelial cells against free radical-induced oxidative stress. J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 2004, 56(6): 743-8; Lee at al. Protective effect of acteoside on carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity. Life Sci., 2004, 74(8):1051-64), but suitable sources for the large scale production thereof are completely absent, due to the very low quantities typically present in plant tissues and the high costs associated with the purification process.